Famous Cricketers No 96 - Clarrie Grimmett

1934 – Australia in England The Australian Selectors had chosen a well-balanced side for the 1934 tour to England, with eight players having appearing in fourteen or more Tests. Woodfull, Bradman, Ponsford, Kippax and McCabe were an experienced and impressive set of players with Oldfield certain to join their number as the main keeper. The bowling relied essentially on Grimmett and O’Reilly as their major spin attack although they could also call upon a highly promising Fleetwood-Smith, a new left-arm spinner. However apart from Wall, the pace attack appeared a little short of pace, with support coming fromMcCabe and Ebeling. Grimmett, with 27 caps, was the oldest at 42 and fully expected to play a major part in the series. The first ten fixtures prior to the opening Test went essentially according to plan, none being lost and five won with comparative ease. Grimmett played a prominent part, appearing in eight of the ten games including the five victories. Beginning with 10-80 in the opening fixture against Worcestershire, he followed this with 9-74 in Cambridge University’s first innings, adding 5-54 against Essex, 7-109 against Oxford University and 5-27 against Middlesex. In the following game, he had R.J.Gregory lbw in his first innings at Surrey to achieve the thousandth wicket of his Australian career on May 30th. In the First Test at Trent Bridge, Grimmett ran up his third consecutive five wickets in an innings on the ground, taking 5-81 and in the second, conceding only 3-39 in 47 overs, giving Australia victory by 238 runs with O’Reilly claiming 7-54.and 11-129 in the match. His dismissal of Leyland in the first innings gave him his 150th Test wicket, the first Australian bowler and only the third bowler to do so. England squared the series at Lord’s and although taking 5-33 against Surrey, he achieved little of consequence in the Third Test at Old Trafford, O’Reilly taking the major honours with 7-189, and Grimmett holding the fort with 1-122 off 57 overs. Rain effectively prevented any clear result at Headingley, although Grimmett’s 7-129 were the best figures of the match. In the second innings his 56.5 overs cost only 3-72. The Fifth Test at the Oval ended in a huge 562 runs victory for Australia. A massive 701 from Australia allowed the Australian bowlers to wear down the English attack, Grimmett eventually winning the game with 5-64, aged 42 years 240 days old, second only to Blackie’s 6-94 in 1928/29, aged 46 years, 272 days. In every sense of the word it marked the end of the season, Grimmett appearing in only two of the final four games, in which he was to bowl only one over. The Australians had won the series, with Grimmett and O’Reilly again dominating the bowling. Between them they claimed 53 of the 71 wickets in the series, Grimmett finishing second in the averages with 25 wickets at 26.72, just shaded by O’Reilly’s 28 at 24.92. His total of 2,379 balls in this series was just 11 short of the record of 2,390 held by Grimmett in 1928/29. By the end of the series Grimmett had taken his tally of Test wickets to 172, second only to S.F.Barnes’ 189. He was equally efficient throughout the tour, the three spin bowlers all taking over a hundred wickets, with Grimmett’s 109 costing 19.80, a shade higher than O’Reilly and Fleetwood-Smith. Grimmett was never called upon again to play against England but between 1924/25 and 1934 he took 106 wickets at 32.44. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 170. Australians v Worcestershire, Worcester, May 2, 3 (Australians won by an innings and 297 runs) c G.W.Brook b R.Howorth 7 504 24 7 53 5 C.F.Walters lbw 112 M.Nichol lbw C.H.Bull st W.A.S.Oldfield G.W.Brook b P.F.Jackson lbw 15.3 7 27 5 Nawab of Pataudi lbw 95 1 R.Howorth st W.A.S.Oldfield G.W.Brook c H.I.Ebeling P.F.Jackson b R.T.D.Perks c and b 40